The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Nierembergia plant originated the from crossing of Nierembergia hybrid varieties ‘NB3’ as the female parent and ‘NSB4’ as the male parent. ‘Sunniparibu’ is a vegetative propagated variety.
The female parent ‘NB3’ used in the crossing to produce ‘Sunniparibu’ is a strain of our breeding lines grown at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan, having a tufted, bushy shape. The plant height is lower than ‘Sunniparibu’. The flowers are single and medium size, having strong purple with moderate purple towards the center.
The male parent ‘NSB4’ used in the crossing to produce ‘Sunniparibu’ is a strain of our breeding lines grown in Omi, Shiga-ken, Japan, having erect growth habit. The plant height is about the same as ‘Sunniparibu’. The flowers are single and large, having light purple with strong purple towards the center.
In July 1995, crossing of ‘NB3’ (unpatented) as the female parent and ‘NSB4’ (unpatented) as the male parent was conducted at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan, and seedlings were obtained. In October 1996, one seedling was selected in view of its growth habit, flower size and color. That seedling was propagated by cutting, and a trial was carried out by flower potting in the glasshouse and field from May to October 1997, at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunnicobu’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,934) and ‘Montebranco’ (unpatented) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Nierembergia plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. The new variety of Nierembergia plant was named ‘Sunniparibu’.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with the Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S. Colour Chart).